CVS vs Walgreens: What Our Sold-Comp Data Reveals About the Pharmacy Divide

For two decades, pharmacy net lease was considered one of the safest, most predictable boxes in commercial real estate. Two national tenants, similar store formats, reliable rent checks. That era is over. Based on our own database of recent pharmacy transactions, CVS and Walgreens now trade more than 120 basis points apart on a sold basis — and the gap tells you everything about how the market prices credit risk today.

The Numbers (From Our Comps, Not Estimates)

Across recently closed transactions in our database:

CVS sold comps average a 7.35% cap rate, with asking cap rates on available listings averaging 7.06%. That gap — sold trading roughly 29 basis points above asking — tells you buyers are negotiating CVS deals slightly in their favor, but demand remains healthy.

Walgreens sold comps average an 8.56% cap rate, with asking on available listings averaging 7.77%. That’s a much wider gap — Walgreens deals are closing nearly 80 basis points above their asking cap rates, meaning buyers are demanding significantly more yield than sellers initially want before they’ll commit.

The headline: Walgreens is trading roughly 120 basis points wider than CVS on a sold basis. On a property generating $300,000 in rent, that spread is the difference between a value of about $4.08 million (at 7.35%) and about $3.5 million (at 8.56%) — a swing of more than half a million dollars on credit perception alone.

Why the Gap Exists

Credit transparency. CVS remains a publicly traded, investment-grade company. Walgreens went private, removing the audited transparency institutional buyers rely on. When buyers can’t easily verify the credit behind the rent, they demand a higher return to compensate. That’s the single biggest driver of the spread.

The asking-vs-sold tell. This is the part most analyses miss. The fact that Walgreens closes ~80 bps above asking — versus CVS at ~29 bps — means the market is repricing Walgreens risk more aggressively than sellers are. Sellers list at one number; buyers force a higher cap rate before they’ll sign. That widening negotiation gap is an early warning of softening demand.

Lease term remaining. For both tenants, term drives everything. The same brand with 15-plus years remaining trades dramatically tighter than one with under five years, because a short lease means the buyer is really underwriting re-tenanting risk, not the tenant.

How to Underwrite Each One

If you own a CVS, you hold the stronger hand. Investment-grade credit plus a recognizable box still draws demand, and the tighter asking-to-sold gap shows sellers retain real pricing power. If your lease has long term remaining, this is a reasonable window to test the market.

If you own a Walgreens, the data is a wake-up call. Long-term, well-located stores still trade. But the 80-basis-point gap between asking and sold pricing means the market will push back hard on price, especially as your lease shortens. Waiting rarely improves the outcome when the trend is widening.

See current ranges for both tenants on our NNN Cap Rate tracker, or read the full CVS and Walgreens profiles.

Is a CVS NNN a good investment?

A CVS net lease offers investment-grade credit and a recognizable retail box, and our data shows it trading around a 7.35% cap rate on sold deals — meaningfully tighter than Walgreens. The key variables are lease term remaining and store-level performance. Long-term, well-located CVS properties remain among the more sought-after pharmacy assets.

Why does Walgreens have a higher cap rate than CVS?

Walgreens trades at a higher cap rate (around 8.56% in our sold data versus 7.35% for CVS) primarily because it went private and no longer carries the public, investment-grade credit transparency that CVS offers. Higher perceived credit risk means buyers demand a higher return.

The Bottom Line

The pharmacy sector is now bifurcated, and our comp data proves it. CVS trades around 7.35% with healthy demand; Walgreens trades near 8.56% with buyers pushing pricing well above asking. The brand on the building matters far less than the credit, the lease term, and the real estate behind it.